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Abstract

The atmospheric lidar remote sensing groups of NOAA Environmental Technology Laboratory, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory have developed and flown a scanning, 1 Joule per pulse, CO2 coherent Doppler lidar capable of mapping a three-dimensional volume of atmospheric winds and aerosol backscatter in the planetary boundary layer, free troposphere, and lower stratosphere. Applications include the study of severe and non-severe atmospheric flows, intercomparisons with other sensors, and the simulation of prospective satellite Doppler lidar wind profilers. Examples of wind measurements are given for the marine boundary layer and near the coastline of the western United States.

Figures (5)

MACAWS scanning capabilities: (a) Lidar beam orientation is fixed, relative either to aircraft or to surface, to obtain quasi-vertical profiles of line-of-sight velocity and aerosol backscatter, or for studies of surface angular scattering dependence; beam elevation angle relative to aircraft may be fixed over maximum range of ±32 deg. (b) Co-planar scanning is performed to measure a single wind field, with 40 deg in-plane angular separation between forward and aft scans. (c) Co-planar scanning is performed at up to five elevation angles with arbitrary angular spacing to achieve volumetric coverage, over a vertical range of ±25 deg.

a Duration in which 80 percent of pulse energy is emittedb Dependent on range and angular separation between scan planesc Actual ground-relative velocity limits may differ depending on relationship between line-of-sight components of airspeed and ground velocityd Dependent on distribution of aerosol backscatter and extinction